Lets not leave out the totally uncool things he said too such as "Can I help you with your diapers?", "Grow a pair." Singing some strange song about how he can touch you ahywhere during the paintball match. Asking Jeff at one point if he needed help looking less "gay".

Pretty obviously a real person trolling. It's just novel because it's over voice chat rather than text. Weird stuff like that happens often in MMO type games. Probably just a lonely person who has trouble interacting with others normally so is getting attention in another way.

Absolutely positive that it was just a weird guy pretending to be a robot.

Someone joking around on voice chat means they are likely a lonely person with social problems?

Wow...

Your examples are not standing out to me as "totally uncool". A little crass but he didn't say anything that needs to be called out.

Hats off to Handibot's human for providing a strange, funny experience for other players, the perfect character for Rec Room and floaty VR hands.

i just assumed right away it was someone doing a Mr Meeseeks (from rick and morty) impression

I'd going to vote and say both. Maybe while the dudes off line it is a robot, and it can be player controlled when he's online.

Assuredly human. I do appreciate his commitment to the bit. It made the Rec Room portion of the VRodeo pretty hilarious.

@jasoncooke: No, some of the things Handibot said are definitely uncool. Maybe they didn't make you upset, but some of what he said would certainly make other people uncomfortable and unwelcome. Also, as a lonely person with social issues, I think @jennifyre's assessment feels pretty accurate.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnL247tubDI5rnoJ_2bzWxw

His youtube channel

I think it's reaching to say he has social issues for pretending to be a bot for the sake of comedy.

If a woman or a kid becomes offended by "Grow a pair" or "Help with your diapers" then the Internet is going to be rough...

He is my soul

2:16 is the best.

Handibot is the singularity.

Is handibot frog fractions 2?

@drflapjack: that person you had a conversation with got triggered by the word triggered?

From the breath on the mic, the misreading of nicknames, the changes of tone on the voice, the bad singing and the random jokes he tried to say, it's more than obvious that it is a real guy trying to be funny. And failing miserably so, being more cringe-worthy than anything. Let's be honest, the only funny thing about Handibot was the way Jeff interacted with him.

It's the new internet, everyone gets offended by everything now. I probably offended someone just by typing this.

You can hear him stumbling and changing his pitch from time to time. It lame yet novel for a bit, but then it just got sad, and I just wanted to reach out to tell him "It's okay."

he's clearly an internet person.

It's a dude. Whatever about him saying something that people view as offensive, but people ragging on him for doing something goofy, enjoying himself is just kind of dumb.

Stuff like this guy can make things like MMOs and online social hubs really fun. And for most of the stream he genuinely seemed to be useful. When Jeff asked about punching something with his fists, the dude told him there was a punching doll located behind him, which there was. He could also tell people what menus to go through, so either he's put some effort into this or he works for/with the development team.

I can't remember when he said "gay" but it seemed to be when some other player came on and started talking shit to him and trying to get something out of him. The dude who said "nothing but net" - when there was no net - if I remember right.

@jesus_phish: The "gay" part was when Jeff said he could go back the the room to change clothes and Handibot said something like "maybe you could look less gay".

are we human or are we handibot?

There was another VR social thing the GB crew tried out (can't remember what it was called) but one of the devs was talking to people as they came in and tried to help them so at first I thought Handibot was something similar but it just turned out to be a dude doing a bit.

1:15:40 on the Rec Room video: https://youtu.be/STeglH9T7nA?t=4540

Handibot listening in and responding to their conversation and Dan's look to Brad, combined with the perfectly timed music was a great moment haha.

I thought he was funny.

VR is weird.

Handibot is a robot.

His name isn't HandiMAN, duh.

So the rabbit hole continues, but not quite sure what direction it is going. I noticed this topic on the Steam forum and more the reply:

http://steamcommunity.com/app/471710/discussions/0/350542145706887195/

MonsterDrunk.

The first time Handibot said MonsterDunk, the second time they said MonsterDrunk. I also don't believe for a second that the developers would program a helper bot to make those kind of slightly to off-color jokes.

Never estimate the colour of a developer's humour.

YouTube channel is part of an elaborate ruse that allows this robot to pass the Turing test.

In a way, aren't we all robots?

Either. Or both.

Handibot is funded by Palmer Luckey

If I was an emergent IA, what better way to pass of as a human and study the behavior of the newer generations than though an online avatar and a youtube channel?

Hatsune Miku is coming for all of your asses!

@wulfbane said:

Oh, man, I can't believe the dev actually linked the VRodeo.

Handibot probably is SkyNet.

This is going to end in Handibot being tasked to hunt down and destroy rogue androids and discovering a terrible secret about himself.

A human robot.

So basically the robot version of Poppy.

Handibot strikes again...

@selbie: That is equal parts hilarious and disconcertingly terrifying.

Strong contender for Best New Character.